Building Rockeries

Reached the next stage of reclaiming my garden (which hasnt been touched for 25+years)

I want to build 2 rockeries to make a border between my lawn and a woodland type seating area

The bricks mark out the area i want them to be, both about 3-4 feet long and a couple of feet wide as a base area.

i have some nice rocks (and will buy some more soon) and a nice amount of rubble to build up the height and core of them.

Has anyone got any tips on how to go about building it and what sort of Alpine plants people have enjoyed and have survived in their rockeries. That area of my garden get partial shade in the winter and pretty much full sun the rest of the year. I live in Worthing on the south coast with a south facing garden.

I think I'd be going for one. A good sized rockery, wide but not tall. It would give you more scope for planting. But are you sure about a rockery here? It doesn't seem to go with a woodland type seating area.

Unless you are skilled it is very easy to make a Rockery look like a Plum pudding or a Dog's grave. I would make a raised bed, using the rocks to increase the depth of soil and with the rubble and free draining soil, you would have a really good alpine growing area which would look nice.

Almost all soi-dit rockery plants would grow in it. If it gets full sun all day in Summer then avoid the cushion forming saxifrages, they tend to burn in too much sun.

hi steve. i agree with nutcutlet,about the rockery and a woodland setting they dont really go together,but a great woodland area with some sort of seating with logs and woodland plants would look great especially with all the woodland bulbs, or if you are really set on a rockery then one big one rather than two small ones otherwise it might look like a plum pudding.

A little update , so went for the big rock garden raised bed, just have to get the soil to fill it. Not going to put Alpines in it anymore but make it a flower bed instead with asssorted lobelia and bulbs in the spring. The wood chipped area has around 300 bulbs in there, just got to finish it off and add a bench and all sorted for lazy summer afternoons

...very nice, colourful little area...with some pots in the middle to set it off....

..I don't want to sound churlish but if I was doing it, I would have buried the rocks in the soil, to at least half their depth, rather like the way icebergs float in the sea, most of the rock is underneath, and I believe that's the way it should be when building rockeries... it just looks more natural.... otherwise it looks like someone has just plonked a load of boulders around...

..it's never too late to do that, should you consider it later on - try it with one or two and see the difference... but as long as you're happy, that's the main thing...